The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is a union of professionals that champions fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education, healthcare and public services for our students, their families and our communities.

The AFT, founded in 1916, has over 1.7 million members in more than 3,200 locals and 40 state federations who work in higher education, early childhood education, K-12 schools, healthcare professions, and public services. A member-driven organization, AFT is headed by an executive board elected by its membership at a biennial national convention. AFT is one of the largest higher education unions nationally, with over 300,000 higher education members, including full- and part-time faculty, professional staff, and graduate employees.

As a union, UFISU will be part of the University Professionals of Illinois (UPI), and join a growing community of organized faculty in our state.

Chicago State University

Eastern Illinois University

Governors State University

Northeastern Illinois University

Northern Illinois University

University of Illinois Springfield

Western Illinois University

The Illinois Federation of Teachers is a statewide organization made up of more than 200 local unions throughout Illinois. Together in our union, we are 103,000 dedicated education and public service professionals from cities and towns of every size across the state.

The mission of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is to advance academic freedom and shared governance; to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education; to promote the economic security of faculty, academic professionals, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and all those engaged in teaching and research in higher education; to help the higher education community organize to make our goals a reality; and to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good.

Founded in 1915, the AAUP has helped to shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in this country’s colleges and universities.

AAUP has over 50,000 members in both collective bargaining and advocacy chapters around the United States. With union chapters throughout the country, the AAUP is a member-led organization committed to strengthening the voice of faculty. In 2022, the AAUP became an affiliate of the AFT.